Saturday, February 11, 2017

With everybody’s favorite made-up holiday right around the
corner, I thought I would finally post a chocolate soufflé. I’m not sure what
took so long, other than the fact that soufflés have never been my favorite
delivery system for chocolate.

Sure, they’re visually impressive, which is key for a
special occasion dessert, but the chocolate does get a bit diluted by all those
air bubbles. Also, I’ve always been much more of a cold, or room-temp chocolate
dessert guy, and never gone nuts for things like lava cakes, and baked
puddings.

Having said that, I’m sure I’m in the minority, and you and
your special someone will enjoy these just fine. I developed this recipe for
two, since that makes a lot of sense, but it should scale up without issue. If
you want to add some type of liquor to this, you can add it to the milk and
flour mixture after you turn off the heat.

Rum works beautiful, as does coffee, orange, or raspberry
liqueur.Above and beyond that, if you
really want to impress your date, you could also whip up a sauce to serve along
side. I’m thinking either a berry puree, or maybe a coffee crème anglaise would
pair perfectly. Either way, sauced or not, I really hope you give this a try
soon, and it gets you lots of compliments. Enjoy!

Chocolate soufflé for two 5-oz ramekins):melted butter and sugar to prep ramekins

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon cold milk

pinch salt

pinch cayenne

2 ounces dark chocolate (I like something around 70%)

1 large egg yolk

2 large egg whites

pinch cream of tartar (you can use a few drops of lemon
juice or vinegar instead)

24 comments:

This is NICE! but I have a few questions Chef, as this is a dessert.This is supposed to be eaten hot or warm I guess, so keeping it in the fridge is a no no.So, If I wanted to serve this as a dessert, can I keep the mix in the ramekin stage in the fridge or at room temperature for a while so I can just put them in the oven when we are finishing eating? Or will they deflate too fast if I don't put them in the oven right away?Thanks Chef, love all of your recipes and your sense of humor.Hope you get L...ots of compliments too.

A bouille base is best, followed by pastry cream and a distant third is roux base. Also, if you used more like 1/4 of the whites to lighten the base you get a better rise than your anemic rise. A roux base is stiff and requires one to "waste" more whites to lighten the base.

Finally, I prefer a more crisp exterior and creamy interior than what you got. I realize it's a matter of preference.

Hi Chef John! Delighted to see a souffle recipe at long last! There used to be a wonderful restaurant here in NYC that made glorious, decadent souffles in a variety of flavors (both sweet and savory) but that would pair them with various sauces- a raspberry souffle with a chocolate sauce, or a hazelnut souffle with a vanilla sauce, that sort of thing. I'd really love to see a video where you show how to a) make non-chocolate souffles, and b) make a few flavored sauces to go with them. But this was a great video, very straightforward, easy to follow just like all your vids.

Chef John, I love all of your cooking creations and making them, it seriously something that I look forward to in your day. I just have one question, could you please explain to me your philosophy on cayenne, why cayenne why not any other spice and why use it so much-I have always been curious. Thanks!

Just enjoyed this great recipe. I never did such a thing before, let alone any dessert except for tiramisu (I am Italian - we learn it at school).Nevertheless it turned out just perfect, thanks for the easy tutorial!Keep it up with the amazing channel!!